These Are 2019's Happiest States In America

posted by Emily Lee -
Sep 10, 2019

Even though it feels like just yesterday we were counting down to the start of 2019 on New Year's Eve, the year is actually almost over. Thanks to WalletHub.com, we know which states were the happiest in 2019. WalletHub looked to "happiness" research to figure out which state was the happiest in America, finding environmental factors, such as average amount of work hours, unemployment rates, divorce rates and more, help determine happiness and satisfaction in life.

To determine where Americans exhibit the best combination of these factors, WalletHub examined all 50 states across 31 key metrics, ranging from depression rate to sports participation rate to income growth. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing maximum happiness. WalletHub then determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order their sample.

Here's the full list, starting with the happiest state:

Hawaii

Utah

Minnesota

California

New Jersey

Idaho

Massachusetts

Maryland

Nebraska

Connecticut

Iowa

North Dakota

Nevada

Virginia

New York

Delaware

Georgia

Arizona

Colorado

Vermont

Washington

New Hampshire

Texas

Illinois

Wisconsin

Pennsylvania

South Dakota

Florida

South Carolina

North Carolina

Montana

Kansas

Rhode Island

Wyoming

Indiana

Michigan

Ohio

Maine

Oregon

New Mexico

Missouri

Tennessee

Oklahoma

Alabama

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississippi

Alaska

Arkansas

West Virginia

Here are some other interesting findings from WalletHub's study:

Hawaii has the lowest share of adult depression.

South Dakota has the highest adequate-sleep rate.

Washington has the highest sports participation rate.

Utah has the fewest average work hours per week, the lowest divorce rate and the highest volunteer rate.

North Dakota has the lowest long-term unemployment rates and the highest income growth.